Haley Welch
Miss Lindstrom
AP Language 11
14 November 2013
The Right to Decontaminated Water
Moral rights can be defined as what is right and what is wrong. What if you are not aware
of the consequences… is that still wrong? Many people are unaware of how to dispose of their
excess pharmaceuticals. Say they flush them down the toilet--the pharmaceuticals then enter the
water drainage system and can either go to streams and rivers, the natural habitat for fish, or even
to our drinking water. Who is to blame for contaminating our water, who is supposed to be in
charge of preventing these effects to our world? American citizens have the right to
uncontaminated water. This moral right can be upheld through properly disposing
pharmaceuticals. By neglecting the outcomes of improper disposal problems are quickly arising.
Now is the time to start acting and ensure a safe future.
Flushing pharmaceuticals into the water is immoral; this is the determination of whether a
person is making the right choice to properly dispose of their unused prescription or being
callous and instead flush the medicine. Everyday pharmacies are dispensing medicine to sick
people; mothers who have sick children may receive a common pain reliever, teenagers who
have mononucleosis can be given acetaminophen, people with strep are typically given Penicillin
or amoxicillin; anyone with a sinus infection is prescribed Augmentin. Ibuprofen, an over the
counter medicine, is bought for headaches, the common cold, muscle pain, etc. Once people feel
better, before the script is used up, they may think “what do I do with these?” A common
response is to flush the medicine down the toilet. Who is responsible for ensuring people know
that their decisions have a serious effect on the community? When distributing the prescriptions
to patients pharmacists can talk to them about what to do if the entire script is not used. A more
permanent and effective solution would be a take back program, a place where individuals can
drop off their unused pharmaceuticals. Annually the Arizona government sponsors a take back
program where people can drop off their unused prescriptions. Walgreens sponsors a mail in
program that costs $3.99 to send the excess medicine to be properly disposed. The problems with
these programs are they are not well publicized or people have to pay to participate.
Currently I am working with certain individuals from local pharmacies to establish a
system of properly disposing medication. Making the programs more accessible to the public
will only increase the participation. If people are able to drop off the old medicine while they
pick up their new script they are more likely to contribute to the cause. The most effective way
will be a safe drop in a pharmacy or a take back program. The difference between a safe drop
and the take back is the safe drop will be more permanent and require the assistance of
pharmacists. The take back will be at certain times throughout the year with the need of law
enforcement to transfer the donations. People will be assured confidentiality when dropping off
their medicine they did not use. These programs then take the pharmaceuticals to properly be
disposed of by incineration or destruction as defined by state law.
Making safe disposal a part of everyday lives will only increase the impact made; people
can be informed of the harmful effects that are caused by improper disposal and thus spread the
word of take back programs. The safe drop program is especially personal to me because I dream
of being a pharmacist and building this program to be more permanent in daily lives. I look
forward to seeing the more positive impact of people properly disposing pharmaceuticals and
thus decontaminated water. Consuming contaminated water is extremely dangerous and leads to
sickness including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. When antibacterial drugs are flushed into the
water there runs a risk of bacteria becoming immune to the medicine. When the bacteria become
immune we have no way to protect ourselves from getting sick.
We all have the right to drink safe and clean water; that means we also have the moral
responsibility to protect the water we are drinking. Creating a safe drop or take back program can
further improve the decontamination of our water systems. Everyone has the right to a safe drink
and everyone has the right to protect that drink through safely disposing pharmaceuticals.